The ‘PIIGS’ acronym had a clear negative impact on the response of financial markets to the ‘PIIGS countries’ during the crisis

During the Eurozone crisis the term ‘PIIGS’, denoting Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, gained traction as a shorthand for referring to the countries worst hit by the crisis. But did this term have an actual impact on the way each country was treated by financial markets? Sam Brazys and Niamh Hardiman present an analysis of how the PIIGS term affected Ireland. They find that the term had a clear negative effect on the country’s market treatment, indicating that acronyms can act as signals that guide and shape market perceptions

Aggregated Marcoeconomic News and Price Discovery

__Abstract__ Is there a link between asset prices and economic fundamentals? Many studies fail to find a convincing link and conclude that asset prices and economic fundamentals are disconnected. A famous example of the disconnect between exchange rates and macroeconomic fundamentals is presented in Meese and Rogoff (1983). The main success connecting asset prices to economic fundamentals

Is Aid for Trade Effective? A Panel Quantile Regression Approach

This paper investigates whether Aid for Trade (AfT) leads to greater exports in recipient countries. Using panel data and panel quantile regression techniques, our results suggest that total AfT disbursements promote the export of goods and services, but is limited primarily to exporters above the .35 quantile of the conditional distribution of exports. When disaggregating by type of AfT, we find that aid to improve trade policy and regulation is not associated with higher exports. Aid to build productive capacity is effective for almost all quantiles of the export distribution but the 10th, with the effect being stronger at the higher tails of the conditional distribution. Aid used to build infrastructure is found to affect exports only at the 0.10 quantile. In contrast, aid disbursed for general budget support (an untargeted type of aid) is not associated with greater export levels irrespective of the quantile

Varieties of Top Incomes?

Focusing on the advanced political economies, this article critically reviews the recent scholarship on the evolution of top incomes over the past few decades. The existing literature shows that the determination of top incomes is complex, multifaceted and bound up with factors associated with both politics and economics. Technological change and globalization are vital sources of change in contemporary capitalism, but the continued diversity in top income shares across the advanced capitalist world suggests that these forces alone cannot account for the empirical patterns. Instead, there is compelling evidence that power and politics, including government policy, trade union and left party strength, institutions and financialization, all play a pivotal role in regulating distributive outcomes. It is argued that future research will require a plurality of methodological approaches in order to clarify the complex causal process that drives top-end income concentration

Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) Coatings Effect on the Moisture Sorption to Polystyrene Foam (EPS) Investigation

Energija – svarbiausia sąvoka šiuometiniame pasaulyje. Žmonių populiacijos skaitiklis sparčiai sukasi bei taip pat kaip ir laikas – neketina sustoti. Tuo pačiu tempu auga ir poreikis energijai, kurios gamybos procese išskiriamas CO2. Todėl šių šilnamio reiškinį sukeliančių dujų emisijų mažinimo politika su kiekvienais metais tampa vis griežtesnė. Tam ruošiamos tarptautinės bei nacionalinės energetikos strategijos, kurių vienas pagrindinių tikslų yra sunaudojamos energijos efektyvumo gerinimas. Senos statybos namų renovavimas įeina į šiuos tikslus. Pastatų sienų šiluminės varžos gerinimui naudojamos polistireninio putplasčio (EPS) plokštės, geba įgerti drėgmę, kuri mažina jų termoizoliacines savybes ir renovacija ilgainiui pasidaro bevertė. Šiai problemai spręsti imtąsi EPS paviršiaus modifikavimo jį padengiant silicio oksido plonasluoksne danga, kuri suteikia putplasčiui vandenį atstumiančių hidrofobinių savybių. Šiame darbe silicio oksidas buvo formuojamas ant polistireno putplasčio bandinių naudojant magnetroninio garinimo (fizikinio dangų nusodinimo garų fazėje) metodą. Atlikus dangų sintezę, jos buvo analizuojamos naudojant skenuojantį elektroninį mikroskopą (SEM), energijos dispersijos spektrometrą (EDS), rentgeno spindulių difraktometrą (XRD), optinį mikroskopą, profilometrą, bei drėgmės įgerties testavimo metodus. Bandymų rezultatai rodo, kad silicio oksido dangos gerina EPS atsparumą drėgmės įgerčiai.Energy - the most important concept in this world right now. Human population number is rising rapidly and never stops - as well as the time. At the same time energy demand is growing, so CO2 emissions too. Therefore, these greenhouse gas emission reduction policies with each year becomes more and more severe. So one of the most important international and national energy strategy goal is to improve efficiency of energy consumption. Old building renovation is one of the main technology which helps to reduce energy comsuption. To improve thermal resistance of building walls expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels are used, but they have ability to absorb moisture, which reduces their thermal properties and renovation eventually becomes worthless. To solve this problem, EPS surface can be modified by covering it‘s surface by thin-layer coating of silicon oxide, which gives the foam water repellent hydrophobic properties. In this paper, silicon oxide was formed on expanded polystyrene foam samples using a magnetron sputtering (physical vapor deposition in the vapor phase) method. After thin-film synthesis, they were analyzed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), optical microscope, profilometer, and moisture absorption testing methods. The test results show that the silica coating improves the resistance to moisture absorption of EPS.Gamtos mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Paradise Lost: The cost of removing tax and trade provisions from the Compact of Free Association

Upon implementing the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Federated States of Micronesia, the US Congress unilaterally stripped tax and trade provisions that would have encouraged investment in the Federated States of Micronesia. I quantify what was lost to the Federated States of Micronesia by arguing that the provisions would have made the Federated States of Micronesia an explicitly sanctioned tax haven through empirical estimates of the impact of tax havens on growth and a comparison of performance of similarly situated entities, the American Samoa and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which did have preferential access to the US market. The estimates suggest that the Federated States of Micronesia lost from $700 million to over$1 billion in gross domestic product from 1986 to 2001.AMSNo issue, volume or page numbers